Road Trip!

Well day trip really ~ I decided that a trip out somewhere with my lovely friend C was in order as shortly I will be returning to working full time and won't have the opportunity for weekday jaunts. We didn't want to go too far and decided that driving range should be about an hour from home ~ this gives quite a few options, we could go west to Carlisle/Penrith, North to Jedburgh/Berwick, east is not an option as we're practically at the coast! We settled for south and having looked up the places in North Yorkshire with market days Ripon became the destination of choice. Picture from Google Images.

Thursday morning was bright and sunny but very cold, there were a couple of issues on the journey ~ a sat nav that peeled itself off the windscreen ~ note to self, must clean car!, and the horrid roadworks on the A1.

As we were looking for parking we spotted a couple of "must" go into shops ~ and we did!  Castle Furniture Store, a huge shop with furniture of all shapes, sizes and colour and also lots and lots of giftware, clocks, plaques, planters etc.  We spent ages here drooling over many many things ~ eventually I bought this ~ a present for my LM as it's his favourite.

I did have a photograph of the lid showing it's legend "Bee Happy" but it was very out of focus!

C bought a little plaque for her daughter.

We wandered around the market ~ did I mention that it was very cold? ~ Lovely plants & flowers, wool, fabric, foodstuffs and this fabulous little coffee boot!

What a great use for a wee Smart car!
This, by the way, is the only photograph I took on the day ~ I carried the camera around but it really was too cold to contemplate stopping still for too long!
We lunched at a warmer coffee shop - did I mention that it was cold?

Just off the Market Square was Abode - another shop filled with yummy goodness, pillows, vases, candles, spice jars, hearts in different styles and colours and lots besides ~ more drooling!

And over the road was The Curiosity Shop or it might have been The Curious Shop ~ lots of antique bits and pieces and they had a lovely "make do and mend" window display with lots of vintage knitting/crochet/quilting and sewing patterns, cards of darning wool, a clothing ration book etc.  Having always wanted to own some vintage thread bobbins I bought these.

Also of note was The March Hare Gallery on Duck Hill ~ what a fabulous address!  Full of artwork, pottery, handmade cards etc.
We managed, eventually, to find Barnyarns and got in just before closing to have a look at what they had to offer.
All in all a lovely day and definately a place I would return to quite happily.
It's stitching group for me tonight - I have a small amount of stitching to complete on one of my exchanges and then I shall be working on The Sampler Lady.  Picture post to follow later in the week.

Finally, take a look at Irina'a Blog aside from all the lovely work Irina is currently running a fantastic giveaway.

Chin up, we're almost halfway through the week!

Kate